


Following the Map (the map that leads to you)

by JustcallmeStar



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, I don't actually know anything about maps, i can feel you judging me god, its like 3 in the morning, yes the title is based off a Maroon 5 song you were right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24873421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustcallmeStar/pseuds/JustcallmeStar
Summary: As she got older, she started looking at people the way she looked at maps. She found which buildings were shut down with memories better left forgotten, which street was busy with thoughts and emotions.She doesn't realize just how much her maps changed when she meets Regina Mills.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	Following the Map (the map that leads to you)

Emma has a thing for maps.

It started when she was a child, when she learned that simply staying out of whatever foster home she was currently in was easier. Easier than getting hurt, easier than getting beat.

Easier than getting attached. After the first dozen heartbreaks, she started preferring the shitty people than the ones who lure you in with false affection, make you feel loved and wanted just to throw you out when the pay cheque comes. 

At least with the shitty people she knew where she stood. Don't get in they way, don't draw attention to yourself. It was simple, and it was easy.

So when she was thrown into a new neighborhood every couple of months, she started looking at maps. She studied them, watched the way the streets and buildings winded together in an elaborate maze. She learned all the shortcuts, all the backroads, dreamt of running away to something slightly less shitty.

She found secrets inside abandoned buildings, stories told through old relics left behind. A diary page, talking about a womans daily troubles, an old photograph of a man and his son.

She ran down all the dirt roads and gravel paths, pretended she was driving away to a better life.

As she got older, she started looking at people the way she looked at maps. She found which buildings were shut down with memories better left forgotten, which street was busy with thoughts and emotions.

She's used that knowledge, that innate layout of how people work to do things she's not proud of, she's grown up enough to admit that. She isn't proud of some of her past actions, but she did what she had to do in order to survive. 

When a ten year old boy knocks on her door on her birthday night, she immediately understands him. She looks at him and sees herself, a lost kid who's angry at the world and confused. He explains his fairytale theory and she understands his desperation, his need for something he understands, something away from reality.

(It turns out he was completely right, about literally everything, but that's not the point.)

When she meets Regina Mills, she immediately sees a rich neighborhood, the nicest house on the block. She sees a young girl who was given everything she ever wanted, and now thinks the world belongs to her.

And for an orphan who had to fight just to eat food some nights, it pisses her off. Who does she think she is, better than everyone because of the circumstances she was born in?

And so, Emma snarks. She bites and jabs, determined to give this lady a piece of her mind. Only Regina is smarter than Emma assumed, and she snarks right back. It's a challenge for Emma, finding someone that can compete with her.

Slowly, overtime, her map changes without her even realizing it. Sudden the nicest house on the street is controlled by a demanding mother, determined to live her fantasies through her daughter. She sees a young woman who watched the love of her life die, was forced into a marriage with a man old enough to be her father.

She sees the constant pain, and realizes that Regina Mills is similar to her in many ways. She's packed her childhood in a condemned building, thrown her first love into a sealed box. Opened her heart to a child named Henry and learned from her past mistakes.

Emma doesn't realize how beautiful Regina Mills map is until years later, when everything is relatively calm and settled down. Sitting on a park bench watching her son play with the other children, his other mother sitting beside her idly chatting about her day, everything slips into place. She understands now.

When Regina notices the far off look in her eyes and asks if she's okay, Emma smiles and kisses the brunette. Regina seems shocked, but she kisses her back with a soft sigh.

Emma starts to think that maybe everyone's map is leading them to something, guiding them to the moment they've been waiting for all along.

"I'm fine," she says, smiling broadly with Regina's hands cupping her face and the children's delighted screaming behind her. 

"Everything is just fine."

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know I should be sleeping right now. Sorry for any spelling mistakes, constructive criticism is appreciated!


End file.
